Many electric guitars include a guitar stop tailpiece to which the guitar strings are attached near the lowermost end of the guitar. It is common practice to remove a guitar stop tailpiece and replace it with a vibrato or tremolo, also commonly called a whammy bar, for the purpose of providing unique sounds while playing the guitar.
Vibrato mechanisms provide a means for changing the tension on all the strings of a guitar simultaneously. Changing the tension creates a pitch change in each vibrating string. This is accomplished by a moving tailpiece which pivots about an axis substantially perpendicular to the strings. A handle is provided to facilitate a pulse-like pivoting of the tailpiece while simultaneously playing the instrument.
Most vibrato mechanisms are retrofitted to guitars. This involves either routing out an internal space for part of the mechanism, such as balancing springs, or otherwise drilling mounting holes to secure the mechanism to the guitar body. In both cases, the guitar is permanently defaced and its resale value compromised. Furthermore, changing vibrato mechanisms, or removing the mechanism, leaves unsightly vestiges of the former mounting. It is no wonder that many guitar owners are hesitant to mount such devices.
There are numerous examples of vibrato mechanisms in the prior art. Two of these, which characterize the genre, are U.S. Pat. No. 4,497,236 to Rose and U.S. Pat. No. 4,632,005 to Steinberger.
The Bigsby® Vibrato is the ubiquitous after-market device. To mount it, the procedure involves removing the stop tailpiece, typically found on guitars with a Tune-o-matic style bridge, and mounting it to the guitar body with four screws. The mounting requires new holes in the guitar for the particular fastener layout. It would be desirable to accomplish the mounting without drilling new holes. What is needed and missing in the prior art is a mounting adapter for a vibrato device, and specifically a Bigsby Vibrato device, which utilizes the screw holes vacated by the removal of the stop tailpiece.
Furthermore, it would be desirable, when mounting the vibrato device, to effectively replace the stop tailpiece without changing the angle of the bend of the strings over the bridge. This bend effectively holds the location of an individual string in its saddle on the bridge, and the angle determines the sufficient amount of downward force required to stabilize the configuration. If the angle is too shallow, the string may drift from its saddle location and cause it to go out of tune. The angle could become too shallow if the vibrato device is located too far rearward of the bridge.
Additionally, if the device, mounted on an adapter as suggested above, is located too far rearward, the string tension creates a torque which stresses the mounting in a way not comprehended in the original design for the stop tailpiece mounting. The best location for the device reduces the moment arm to zero and places that component of the vibrato device holding the strings down squarely at the stop tailpiece location. Serendipitously, this is also the location for the optimal angle of bend. A mounting adapter plate of preferred design, thusly, would properly locate the vibrato mechanism with respect to the bridge and the stop tailpiece mounting holes.
The present invention provides an adapter plate with a two-point mounting system utilizing the holes already provided for mounting the stop tailpiece and without requiring any additional points of attachment to the guitar body. Because the fasteners are countersunk within, and flush with, the adapter plate, the vibrato device can be mounted over the adapter mounting to find its optimal positioning on the guitar body. The adapter plate contacts the guitar body at points buffered by a plurality of bumpers or footpads, preferably of felt or other similar material, mounted upon the bottom surface of a U-shaped adapter plate.
The U-shape, as opposed to a rectangular or block shape, becomes essentially concealed beneath the similar outline of the Bigsby device, rendering the adapter plate almost unnoticeable. The U-shape also allows for efficient fabrication of the part. The “U's” can be alternately inverted to nest together in a cutting layout, thus minimizing material use and waste. Furthermore, the U-shape, with essentially independent tines, can resonate with the strings to sustain tone through the guitar body.